Ireland skipper Brian O’Driscoll labeled scrum-half Peter Stringer his “little magician” in the wake of the 22-15 triumph over Scotland that kept his side’s Grand Slam quest intact.
Veteran Stringer had been confined to the bench during the first three matches of the Six Nations Championship, but he celebrated his recall to the starting line-up by creating the decisive try for Jamie Heaslip at Murrayfield.
O’Driscoll declared: “It was the type of game that needed one spark of magic to settle it — and thankfully we had our little magician in the shape of Peter.”
■ITALY V WALES
AFP, ROME
Italy coach Nick Mallett said he was proud of his players despite their fourth straight defeat in the Six Nations this season as Wales left Rome’s Stadio Flaminio with a 20-15 victory.
It was a marked improvement for the Azzurri on their previous three matches, though, during which they had conceded more than 100 points against England (36-11), Ireland (38-9) and Scotland (26-6).
Although Mallett was disappointed his team failed to win a game that was there for the taking, he was happy that they had at least managed to put his gameplan into practice.
“I’m very proud of the way the team played and I’m very proud of the way they stuck to what we practiced,” he said. “Some players had their best games for Italy but I’m very disappointed that having got that close we conceded a try in the 70th minute.”
“Our kicking game was very good, we didn’t make any stupid passes and our pack was going forward a lot,” he said.
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